It may have been Super Bowl Weekend February 1st-2nd but that didn’t stop the 52 ladies who showed up at Rusty’s in Arlington, TX to play in the first stop of 2014 on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. There were lots of new faces, lot of veterans, travelers from afar, as well as players who took off for a while but glad to see they are starting back up again. It was an awesome event to say the least and many, many strong match lineups all weekend long from champions all around. Additionally since it was Super Bowl Weekend, players were allowed to wear their favorite professional sports jerseys and here’s a snapshot of some of the ladies all dressed up:
Several marquee players in the running for the $750 first place prize money were the OBCLT Regional Champion from 2007-2011 Lisa Marr; 2012 OBCLT Regional Tour Champion Kim Pierce, 2013 OBCLT Regional Tour Champion Amanda Lampert and 2013 Flamingo Billiards Tour Regional Champion Jeannie Seaver. With all these champions in the house, many folks were saying it was a toss-up who would win this event. Needless to say, it was going to be a slugfest with plenty of tough and strong action to reach the top.
By day’s end on Saturday, the top 16 players returning to continue their winning quest were as follows: one loss side matches were Jeannie Seaver vs. Melinda Bailey; Lisa Marr vs. Jeannie Kim; Corina Campbell vs. Tracie Voelkering; Chris Fields vs. Rhea Brooks. Undefeated players were Tara Williams and 1st time OBCLT player Sara Bork; Malinda Williams vs. Orietta Strickland; Amanda Lampert vs. Julie Stephenson and Jennifer Kraber vs. Emma Stewart (battle of the Austinites).
Finishing 13th-16th were Corina Campbell, Jeannie Kim, Melinda Bailey & Rhea Brooks. 9th-12th winners were Mindy Williams, Sara Bork, Tracie Voelkering and Emma Stewart (highest finish to date for Emma). Great job ladies! 7th-8th went to Julie Stephenson and Chris Fields; 5th-6th places went to Tara Williams and Jennifer Kraber. 4th place was Jeannie Seaver and 3rd place went to Lisa Marr. Both Jeannie and Lisa have been gone from this tour circuit for a while. It was great to see them back in action and needless to say, they still have it! Once a champion, always a champion and fun to watch and learn from both of these ladies!
Amanda and Orietta matched up against one another for the hot seat match and it was pretty much uncontested as Orietta won 7-2, giving little chance for Amanda to even get into the match. This semi- finals match between Lisa and Amanda was yet another strong showing between these two players. Having matched up against one another on many other previous occasions throughout the years, Amanda proved too much for Lisa with a win of 7-3.
The finals match between Amanda and Orietta is always a grind and Amanda would have to double-dip Orietta twice to take the crown. The first set was a back and forth battle of shots and safeties and Amanda prevailed the winner of set #1 with a score of 7-3. The second set was a repeat of the first with Amanda scoring the tournament win 7-4. Awesome work Champ!
Special recognition and thanks to OB Cues our main tournament sponsor. If you want to get serious about your game, check out OB Cues at www.obcues.com
Also many thanks and love to all our families, fans, supporters---we greatly appreciate each and every one of you. Also to the many, many ladies/ player/friends who traveled from near and far; we loved seeing you all again and greatly appreciate you making the journey to play on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. We look forward to seeing everyone once again at Stop #2 - Slick Willie’s at Katy, Texas, March 15th-16th weekend. Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
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